Nora's Blog

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noviembre del 2016Today marks, I hope, another turning point in our country’s health, as Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. It is the first such report released by the Surgeon General on the health consequences alcohol and drug misuse Read More.

octubre del 2016People with substance use disorders and other mental health issues face greater stigma than those with other illnesses. Many of the addiction-related terms widely used in our society—even in the addiction field—retain an implicit moral judgment and subtly frame drug problems as transgressions worthy of punishment. Read More.

septiembre del 2016The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which has been in the planning phase for just under a year, is now recruiting more than 10,000 9- and 10-year-olds at 19 research sites across the United States, and will follow these young people for a decade, through their early adulthood. Read More.

septiembre del 2016Last week, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, sent a personal letter to more than 2.3 million health care practitioners and public health leaders, seeking their help to address the prescription opioid crisis. Read More.

junio del 2016The recommendation to move away from opioids as the first line of treating many types of chronic noncancer pain has generated an understandable outcry from some pain patients who fear that medications they need will no longer be available to them. Read More.

mayo del 2016Despite great successes in reducing tobacco use over the past five decades, smoking leads to more than 480,000 deaths in the United States annually and remains the number-one preventable cause of sickness and mortality. Unfortunately, a new generation of young Americans is being introduced to tobacco via flavored tobacco products (small cigars, hookahs) and e-cigarettes, which until now have been subject to none of the federal oversight that apply to cigarettes. Read More.

abril del 2016Although these medications have a legitimate and important role in the treatment of severe acute pain and some severe chronic pain conditions, it is clear that they are also overprescribed or prescribed without adequate safeguards and monitoring. Read More.

marzo del 2016A major milestone was reached on March 14, 2016, when the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) formally announced recognition of the field of Addiction Medicine as a medical subspecialty. Read More.